There is a new way to screen for cervical cancer, the second most common type of cancer in women. A recent Italian study revealed that the new test is more accurate that the long revered Pap smear and identifies more dangerous lesions.

According to Guglielmo Ronco, a cancer epidemiologist at the Centre for Cancer Prevention in Turin, who led the study in question, researchers used the traditional test which tests for HPV (human papilloma virus) and combined it with an additional test that showed specific cancer-causing activity in the cells. Certain strains of the human papilloma virus, a sexually transmitted virtus, have been strongly linked to the cervical cancer.

Researchers tested for a protein called P16INK4A. This provided a biological marker which showed changes in the cells which indicated that a woman likely had a pre-cancerous lesion. Their results were published in the journal Lancet Oncology.

Cervical cancer is very common. It is diagnosed in approximately 500,000 women yearly in the United States, alone. Much research has been done in the area. The Pap smear, a long used test to screen for cervical cancer, has been credited with saving many lives due to early detection.

However, Pap smears have been criticized for producing too many tests which appear positive, but in reality are not. These are called false positive tests. Naturally, when a woman is notified by her physician that it appears that she has a cancerous or pre-cancerous Pap smear, it can be devastating. After undergoing additional tests and dealing with the gut-wrenching anxiety that can go along with a potential cancer diagnosis, many women find that they do not have any serious abnormality at all. Obviously, in addition to the unnecessary medical costs, false positive tests can take a tremendous emotional toll on a woman.

According to Guglielmo Ronco, "Most HPV infections simply regress without causing disease. They disappear spontaneously, which is the reason there are so many false positives."

The team of Italian researchers used samples of cervical cells from women who had evidence of the HPV virus, many of whom had already had the expensive colposcopy exam to further determine whether or not they had cervical cancer. A colposcopy is a close examination of the cervix which uses an instrument which magnifies the appearance of cervical cells.

When they tested for P16INK4A they found that this test helped them identify 88 percent of women who truly had cancer-causing lesions and they had far fewer false positive test results.